Gorillaz
Gorillaz performing live in London in 2010
Background information
Origin	London, England, United Kingdom
Genres	Alternative hip hop, alternative rock, Electronica, trip rock, Dub, Indietronica[1][2][3]
Years active	1998 - present
Labels	Parlophone, Virgin, EMI, Universal Music Group
Associated acts	Blur, Rocketjuice and The Moon, The Good, the Bad & the Queen, The Clash, DRC Music, Danger Mouse, Dan the Automator, Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Bobby Womack, De La Soul, Mos Def
Website	gorillaz.com
Members
Damon Albarn Jamie Hewlett Virtual members: Stuart "2D" Pot Noodle Murdoc Niccals Russel Hobbs Former virtual members: Paula Cracker Del tha Ghost Rapper Cyborg Noodle

Gorillaz is an English musical and visual project created in 1998 by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. The project consists of Gorillaz itself and an extensive fictional universe depicting a "virtual band" of cartoon characters. This band has four animated members: 2D (lead vocalist, keyboard, and melodica), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar and drum machine), Noodle (guitar, keyboard, and occasional vocals) and Russel Hobbs (drums and percussion). Their fictional universe is explored through the band's website and music videos, as well as a number of other media, such as short cartoons. The music is a collaboration between various musicians, Albarn being the only permanent musical contributor. Their style is a composition of multiple musical genres, with a large number of influences including alternative, rock, hip hop, electronica, dub and pop.

The band's 2001 debut album Gorillaz sold over seven million copies and earned them an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as the Most Successful Virtual Band.^[4] It was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2001, but the nomination was later withdrawn at the band's request.^[5] Their second studio album, Demon Days, released in 2005, went five times platinum in the UK,^[6] double platinum in the United States,^[7] earned five Grammy Award nominations for 2006^[8] and won one of them in the Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals category.^[9] The band has won numerous other awards, including two MTV Video Music Awards, an NME Award, three MTV Europe Music Awards, and have twice been nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Group.^[10][11] The combined sales of the Gorillaz and Demon Days albums had exceeded 15 million by 2007.^[12] The band's third studio album, Plastic Beach, was released in March 2010. Their latest album, The Fall, was released in December 2010 as a free download for fan club members, then in April 2011 as a physical release.

In April 2012, Albarn revealed that the project was "unlikely" to continue due to disagreements between him and Hewlett.^[13] However, he later stated that when he and Hewlett had worked out their differences, they would make another record.

History[link]

Formation and early years (1997–1999)[link]

Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett created Gorillaz in 1997 when they were living together in a flat on Westbourne Grove.^[14] The idea to create the band came about when the two were watching MTV: "If you watch MTV for too long, it's a bit like hell – there's nothing of substance there. So we got this idea for a cartoon band, something that would be a comment on that," Hewlett has said.^[15] The band originally identified themselves as "Gorilla" and the first song they recorded was "Ghost Train"^[16] which was later released as a B-side on their single "Rock the House" and the B-side compilation G Sides. The trio of musicians behind Gorillaz' first incarnation included Damon Albarn, Del the Funky Homosapien and Dan the Automator, who had previously worked together on the track "Time Keeps on Slipping" for Deltron 3030's eponymous debut album.^[17]

[edit] Phase One: Celebrity Take Down (1999–2003)

The band's first release was the EP Tomorrow Comes Today, released in 2000.

	"Clint Eastwood" noicon "Clint Eastwood" exemplifies the mix of musical styles found on the band's debut album, combining hip hop, rock, electronic and dub influences. The verses are rapped by Del the Funky Homosapien and the chorus is sung by 2D (voiced by Damon Albarn).
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

The band's first single, "Clint Eastwood", was released on March 5, 2001. It was produced by hip hop producer Dan the Automator and originally featured Luton-based rap group Phi Life Cypher, but the version that appears on the album features American rapper Del the Funky Homosapien, known on the album as Del tha' Ghost Rapper, a spirit in the band's drummer Russel Hobbs. The Phi Life Cypher version of "Clint Eastwood" appears on the B-side album G-Sides, and in concert the song has been performed by Phi Life Cypher as well as Snoop Dogg, Eslam Jawaad, Bashy, and Kano. Later that same month, their first full-length album, the self-titled Gorillaz, was released, producing four singles: "Clint Eastwood", "19-2000", "Tomorrow Comes Today", and "Rock the House". "19-2000 (Soulchild Remix)" became popular after being featured in both an Ice Breakers commercial, as well as in EA Sports' FIFA Football 2002. Around this time, a half-hour TV mockumentary entitled Charts of Darkness was released. It follows Channel 4 news reporter Krishnan Guru-Murthy attempting to track down Albarn and Hewlett after they were placed in an insane asylum.

The end of the year brought the song "911", a collaboration between Gorillaz and rap artists D12 (without Eminem) and Terry Hall about the September 11 attacks.^[18] Meanwhile G Sides, a compilation of the B-sides from the Tomorrow Comes Today EP and first three singles, was released in Japan on 12 December 2001 and quickly followed with international releases in early 2002. The new year also saw the band perform at the 2002 BRIT Awards, appearing in 3D animation on four large screens along with rap accompaniment by Phi Life Cypher. The band was nominated for six awards at the event,^[19] including Best British Group, Best British Album and Best British Newcomer, but left the award show empty-handed.^[20] Finally, Laika Come Home, a dub remix album, containing most of the tracks from Gorillaz reworked by Spacemonkeyz, was released in June 2002. The single to follow, "Lil' Dub Chefin'", contained an original track by the Spacemonkeyz titled "Spacemonkeyz Theme".

In November 2002, a DVD titled Phase One: Celebrity Take Down was released, giving the phase its name. The DVD contains the four Phase One promos, the abandoned video for "5/4", the Charts of Darkness documentary, the five Gorilla Bitez (short vignettes), a tour of the website by the MEL 9000 server and more. The DVD's menu was designed much like the band's website and depicts an abandoned Kong Studios.^[21] Rumours were circulating at this time that the Gorillaz team were busy preparing a film, but at an EMI interview, they later revealed that plans for the film were abandoned. Haruka Kuroda, who voices the character Noodle, told the fan website Gorillaz-Unofficial that Jamie Hewlett rejected many scripts before giving up on the film.^[22] Hewlett later explained why the film was abandoned, "We lost all interest in doing it as soon as we started meeting with studios and talking to these Hollywood executive types, we just weren't on the same page. We said, fuck it, we'll sit on the idea until we can do it ourselves, and maybe even raise the money ourselves."^[23][24]

[edit] Phase Two: Slowboat to Hades (2004–2007)

On 8 December 2004, the band's website reopened with an exclusive video entitled "Rock It".^[25] Along with the music video, there was an announcement of a new album on the way, which would be produced by Danger Mouse. A talent contest entitled Search for a Star was also launched on 15 December 2004, allowing fans to send in a minute-long clip of video or audio or an image file. A viral marketing project named Reject False Icons was formed criticising modern pop figures.

The first single from the album was "Feel Good Inc.", released as an EP in Japan and as a CD single in Europe. The single entered the UK Singles Chart at #22, several weeks before the CD single was released due to the single being released as a 7" vinyl in April, and new charts regulations included sales at online music stores, where the song had been available since 22 March. "Feel Good Inc." managed to reach #2 in the UK Singles Chart the week it was released, being the band's highest ever positioned single up to that point in time. The single stayed in the top ten for eight consecutive weeks. In the United States, it peaked at #14. The song also garnered a Record of the Year nomination for the 2006 Grammy Awards later that year. It was later included in the PlayStation 2 karaoke video game SingStar. It is included in Activision's Guitar Hero 5 and was released as downloadable content on Harmonix and MTV Games' Rock Band.

The album Demon Days was released on 11 May 2005 in Japan, 23 May in the United Kingdom and Australia, and on 24 May in the United States. The album debuted at #1 on the UK Albums Chart, but fell as low as #29 in just seven weeks.^[26] However, as the music video for the second single "DARE" started getting played on MTV and other music channels, Demon Days rose up to the top 10 again. "DARE" was released on 29 August 2005 in the UK, where it debuted at #1. A Japanese EP followed on 7 September. "DARE" eventually reached #87 in the United States, also becoming a Top 10 hit on the Modern Rock listings. Shortly afterwards, Gorillaz contributed an exclusive track entitled "Hong Kong" to the charity compilation Help!: A Day in the Life released on 10 September 2005.

The third single was "Dirty Harry", which had already been released as a promotional single earlier that year. It was released in the United Kingdom on 21 November 2005. On its first week, it charted at #6. The release of the single raised the album once again back up to the top 10. The fourth and final single was the double A-side, "Kids with Guns"/"El Mañana". It was released in the UK on 10 April 2006.^[27] Unlike its Top 10 predecessors, "Kids With Guns" / "El Mañana" reached #27 upon its release in the UK. A week later, the single had fallen out of the Top 40 in the UK (see 2006 in British music). By the end of 2005, Demon Days had sold over a million copies in the UK, making it the UK's fifth best selling album of 2005.^[28] Demon Days has since gone five times platinum in the UK,^[6] double platinum in the United States,^[7] triple platinum in Australia^[29] and has sold over 6 million copies worldwide.^[30] At the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards in Miami on 28 August, Gorillaz won two awards for "Feel Good Inc.", including the award for Breakthrough Video.^[31]

De La Soul performing "Feel Good Inc." with the Gorillaz at the Demon Days Live concert in Manchester.

Plans were unveiled for Gorillaz to go on a "holographic" world tour in 2007 and 2008.^[32] The cartoon members would be shown as virtual characters on stage using Musion Eyeliner technology, giving them a life-like appearance on stage. The virtual characters were first used at the 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards on 3 November 2005^[33] and again at the 2006 Grammy Awards on 8 February 2006 with the addition of a virtual Madonna, where the band played a pre-recorded version of "Feel Good Inc."^[34] However, the tour was eventually called off due to budget issues. Jamie Hewlett has stated that "...it was extremely expensive, extremely difficult, a million and one things can go wrong, every second that the thing's playing."^[35]

In 2005, a set of Gorillaz figures were released by Kidrobot to coincide with the release of Demon Days. Two variations of the set were released, known as the Red and Black editions, and a limited edition Noodle from the music video for "DARE" was also released. Three new sets of Gorillaz vinyl figures were released in 2006. The Basic set was released on 16 October 2006 and the 2-tone and White edition sets were released on 2 November 2006.^[36]

The Phase Two: Slowboat to Hades DVD was released on 30 October in the United Kingdom, and 31 October in the United States. The official Gorillaz illustrated autobiography, titled Rise of the Ogre, was released on 31 October 2006 in the United Kingdom, and 2 November in the United States. D-Sides, a compilation of B-side and remixes, was released on 19 November 2007 in the UK and on 20 November 2007 in the US.^[37][38]

Hopes for a Gorillaz film were revived in 2006 when Hewlett stated that they would be producing the film on their own. American film producer and The Weinstein Company co-chairman, Harvey Weinstein, was said to be collaborating with Albarn and Hewlett.^[39] In a September 2006 interview with Uncut magazine, Albarn was reported saying "[Gorillaz] has been a fantastic journey which isn't over, because we're making a film. We've got Terry Gilliam involved. But as far as being in a big band and putting pop music out there, it's finished. We won't be doing that any more."^[40] In an interview with the Gorillaz-Unofficial fansite, Jamie Hewlett and Cass Browne revealed that in the film the band members will act as other characters presenting a new story, instead of playing themselves. Hewlett said that the film's soundtrack will be the next Gorillaz album. "The soundtrack will be the third album. Damon will do the soundtrack, which will be the soundtrack, which will be the third album."^[24] As of April 2007, Cass Browne was still finishing the script and Albarn said that he hoped production of the film will begin in September 2007.^[41][42] No further news was heard about the film until February 2008 when, in an interview with Gorillaz-Unofficial, Hewlett said "Ultimately we didn't think that feel we're in a position to make the kind of movie we want to make with Gorillaz at the moment. [...] But I'd still like to make a full, lavishly-animated Gorillaz movie someday."^[43]

On 24 October 2007, the official Gorillaz fansite announced that a documentary film about the Gorillaz, titled Bananaz, would be released. The film, directed by Ceri Levy, documents the previous seven years of the band.^[44] The film was released online on the Babelgum website on 20 April 2009 followed by the DVD release on 1 June 2009.^[45] Gorillaz appeared on the Martina Topley-Bird song "Soldier Boy" along with rapper Roots Manuva, the song interpolates certain elements from the unreleased Gorillaz demo "Snakes & Ladders" which features both artists.

[edit] Phase Three: Escape to Plastic Beach (2008-2011)

In late 2007, Albarn and Hewlett began working on Carousel, a new Gorillaz project which eventually evolved into the band's third studio album Plastic Beach.^[46][47]

Albarn said "I'm making this the biggest and most pop record I've ever made in many ways, but with all my experience to try and at least present something that has got depth."^[47] The album features guest performances by Snoop Dogg, Lou Reed, Mos Def, Bobby Womack, Gruff Rhys, Mark E. Smith, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, Kano, Bashy, De La Soul, Little Dragon, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, sinfonia ViVA, and The Lebanese National Orchestra for Oriental Arabic Music.^[47][48][49]

On 18 January 2010, it was announced that Gorillaz would be headlining the final night of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on 18 April 2010.^[50] The first single from the album, "Stylo", featuring Bobby Womack and Mos Def was made available for download 26 January 2010.^[51] Further singles from the album include "On Melancholy Hill", "Superfast Jellyfish" and "Rhinestone Eyes", as well as "White Flag", which was released exclusively for Record Store Day 2010.^{[citation needed]}

Plastic Beach was first released on 3 March 2010 in Japan, followed by multiple other dates for other countries. The album received positive reviews from critics. To fit the Plastic Beach theme, the Gorillaz website was dramatically altered and changed. A virtual tour of the Plastic Beach was added, including a new Gorillaz game titled Escape to the Plastic Beach. Several 'Shorts' of each band member was included in the follow-up to the album's release, to give fans an understanding of the fictional band members' story before their arrival to the island. A Windows 7 theme was also released. An international tour was announced in mid-2010 to promote the album, however it was only in the UK and Ireland.^{[citation needed]} Later, in early July 2010, they announced their first world tour, titled the "Escape to Plastic Beach World Tour". The UK tour was merged with the world tour, and the UK dates were cancelled or rescheduled to fit the new schedule.^{[citation needed]}

In October 2010, Damon Albarn announced to the media that he would not let the cast of Glee cover the band's songs, claiming that the music on the Fox network's TV show is a "very poor substitute for the real thing". This statement led most people to believe that Gorillaz had been asked by Glee producers to lend their music to the show, which they had not. Albarn responded to the confusion with a laugh and said "and now they definitely won't."^[52]

On 5 October 2010, Gorillaz announced their new single "Doncamatic" featuring Daley.^[53] It premiered later that same day on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show. The single was released on 22 November 2010.

On 8 December 2010, Albarn confirmed via an interview that a Gorillaz album recorded on the American leg of the Escape to Plastic Beach tour will be released to download for free exclusively to paying fan club members from the Gorillaz website on Christmas Day, 25 December 2010.^[54] On 15 December 2010, Albarn confirmed whilst interviewed on Triple J that the new album would be titled The Fall as it was recorded on their American tour in October.^{[citation needed]} The official video for "Phoner to Arizona" was also released on Gorillaz' official website for free on December 24, 2010.^[55] It was announced that Gorillaz would be performing on March 16, 2011 at the MTV Woodie awards. They were also nominated for the Best Video Woodie for "Stylo" at the MTV woodie awards.^{[citation needed]}

Gorillaz released a digital single of the tracks "Revolving Doors" and "Amarillo" from their new album The Fall on 14 March 2011.^{[citation needed]} Photos were released of frontman Damon Albarn and rapper Pharrell Williams recording with an iPad, Omnichord and a Korg Donca Matic when on Gorillaz' Escape to Plastic Beach World Tour, Albarn said in an interview that he does not know when the track will be released.

On 18 April 2011, Gorillaz announced the release of their own version of the iPad app iElectribe, by Korg - which features loops and samples taken from The Fall as well as other samples. The new Gorillaz version features a Gorillaz designed and styled interface, and is customized to generate Gorillaz samples from their fourth album The Fall and includes 128 new sounds created by Gorillaz and 64 ready-to-use pre-programmed patterns from Gorillaz, Stephen Sedgwick (Gorillaz' engineer) and Korg. There have been noted problems with the app's availability outside of the United Kingdom. The app was based on Korg's Electribe: R device app.^[56][57][58]

On 5 October 2011, Gorillaz announced their first "greatest hits" compilation, The Singles Collection 2001–2011^[59], which was released on 28 November 2011.

2012 releases and hiatus[link]

On 9 February 2012, Gorillaz announced "DoYaThing", a single to promote the Gorillaz-branded Converse shoes that were soon to be released. The song would be part of Converse's "Three Artists, One Song" projects, with the two collaborators being James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem and André 3000 of Outkast. The track was available for free download on Converse's website, and in Journeys stores by way of scanning a QR code. An explicit, 13 minute-long version of the song became available for listening shortly after Gorillaz.com. Jamie Hewlett returned to direct the single's music video, featuring animated versions of the two collaborators on the track.^[60][61]

The video, which premiered on 29 February 2012 shows the original four Gorillaz members reunited in a three bedroom flat at 212 Wobble Street, London. Also appearing are "The Boogeyman" and André 3000 (wearing a black mask with a white X on it), who surprises 2D in various places. Russel, still a giant, rests on the roof of the building. Noodle's windmill island which featured in "Feel Good Inc." and "El Mañana" is afloat again and anchored to the side of the building. Murdoc is shown to be recording new installments of his radio show from the apartment, while Noodle sleeps. The video ends with 2D receiving an eviction notice from a baboon in a postman's uniform (apparently Murphy's avatar in the project), putting the permanency of the band's residence into question once again.

In April 2012, Albarn told The Guardian that he and Hewlett had fallen out and that future Gorillaz projects were "unlikely". Tension between the two had been building during phase 3, as Albarn had felt that "we were at cross purposes somewhat on [Plastic Beach]" and that the visuals were not matching the music very well.^[13] However, in an interview with The Independent, Hewlett stated "I just want to do some of my own stuff, and Damon has many projects – he’s always doing 10 things at once – so it’s all right to separate for a bit and try different things" and that while the concept of Gorillaz has "run its course for now, it doesn't mean it's packed away for good", although a future collaboration with Albarn would be something "completely different." He also revealed that he would like to revisit some of the unfinished projects that they worked on between albums.^[62]

Live performances[link]

Gorillaz played five sold out shows at the Apollo Theater, New York in April 2006

Between 1 November and 5 November 2005, there was a Gorillaz festival at the Manchester Opera House. The event was filmed by an EMI film crew for a DVD release, Demon Days Live, in late March 2006. It was later announced that an American version of the event would take place from 2 April to 6 April 2006 at the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem. Within an hour of release tickets were sold out.^[63] The 6 April show was filmed for a live webcast at MSN Video.^[64] Palladia (then known as MHD) also broadcasted an Apollo Theater show in HDTV on 31 December 2006.^[65]

A world tour was planned using the display technology described above.^[32] However, due to extreme costs and fine technical difficulties, the tour was cancelled.^[35] Gorillaz headlined the final night of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on 18 April 2010. On 27 April they were the main guests on Later... with Jools Holland. In addition, Gorillaz played a short run of intimate UK rehearsal gigs exclusively for G-Club members, before taking up a two-night residency at London's Camden Roundhouse (29 and 30 April 2010). Mick Jones and Paul Simonon of The Clash performed guitar and bass respectively with the band and more than once in the evening chords from The Clash song "Guns of Brixton" were heard as a subtle reference to their presence.^[66] These will both feature the full Gorillaz production, including video animation, artwork and film. On 22 March they were announced for Roskilde Festival. On 22 April, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett appeared on.

Gorillaz kicked off their first ever world tour on 20 July at Byblos, Lebanon. The tour took them across America in October, Europe in November, and finally through Australia, New Zealand, and one date in Asia in December.^[67]

On 25 July 2010, Gorillaz performed a concert at the Citadel of Damascus in Syria.^[68][69]

The Escape to Plastic Beach Tour officially kicked off in Montreal, Canada on 3 October to rave reviews.^[70][71]

During the Gorillaz show at Vector Arena in Auckland, New Zealand on 21 December 2010, Damon Albarn announced that it would be their final live show with the Plastic Beach line up.^[72]

Band members[link]

Virtual personnel[link]

• Stuart "2D" Pot – lead vocals, keyboards, melodica (1998–present)
• Murdoc Niccals – bass guitar, drum machine (1998–present)
• Noodle – lead & rhythm guitar, backing vocals (1998–2006, 2011–present)
• Russel Hobbs – drums, percussion (1998–2006, 2012–present)

Former members

• Paula Cracker  – lead & rhythm guitar (1998)
• Del the Ghost Rapper – guest vocals (2001–2003)
• Cyborg Noodle – lead & rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2010–2011)

Non-virtual personnel[link]

In the half-hour TV mockumentary Charts of Darkness, it was explicitly stated that Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett were behind the project. Albarn said "There could be fifty [people] here, but there's two". The first album featured the voices of Miho Hatori of Cibo Matto as Noodle, most notably on the song "19-2000", and Tina Weymouth formerly of Talking Heads. The band's music videos (save "Rock It" and "Tomorrow Comes Today") are created by Passion Pictures. The live band's current lineup includes half of The Clash (Mick Jones and Paul Simonon).

• Damon Albarn – vocals, keyboards, drum machines, guitars, bass guitar, melodica (1998–present)
• Jamie Hewlett – illustration, visuals, FX (1998–present)

Current live members

• Mike Smith – keyboards (2001–present)
• Cass Browne – drums, percussion (2001–present)
• Simon Tong – lead & rhythm guitar (2005–present)
• Paul Simonon – bass guitar (2010–present)
• Mick Jones – rhythm guitar (2010–present)
• Gabriel Wallace – drums (2010–present)
• Jesse Hackett – keyboards (2010–present)
• Jeff Wootton – lead guitar (2010–present)

Former live members

• Simon Katz – lead & rhythm guitar (2001–2002)
• Junior Dan – bass guitar (2001–2002)
• William Lyonell – lead & rhythm guitar (2001–2005)
• Roberto Occhipinti – bass guitar (2002)
• Morgan Nicholls – bass guitar (2005–2006)
• Simon Jones – rhythm guitar (2005–2006)

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id:Lines value:black legend:Albums
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bar:RO text:"Roberto Occhipinti"
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bar:CB text:"Cass Browne"
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bar:SJ text:"Simon Jones"
bar:MN text:"Morgan Nicholls"
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bar:MJ text:"Mick Jones"
bar:JW text:"Jeff Wootton"
bar:GMW text:"Gabriel Wallace"
bar:JHA text:"Jesse Hackett"

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bar:JHA from:06/01/2008 till:end color:Keyboard

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• Gorillaz (2001)
• Demon Days (2005)
• Plastic Beach (2010)
• The Fall (2011)

Tours[link]

• Gorillaz Live (2001–2002)
• Demon Detour (2005)
• Demon Days Live (2005–2006)
• Escape to Plastic Beach Tour (2010)

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gorillaz

• Official website

Clint Eastwood
Eastwood at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	Clinton Eastwood, Jr. (1930-05-31) May 31, 1930 (age 82) San Francisco, California, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Actor, director, producer, and composer
Years active	1955–present
Spouse	Maggie Johnson (1953–84; two children) Dina Ruiz (1996–present; one child)
Children	Kimber Tunis Kyle Eastwood Alison Eastwood Scott Reeves Kathryn Reeves Francesca Fisher-Eastwood Morgan Eastwood

	This article is part of a series on Clint Eastwood
Background · 1960s · 1970s · 1980s · 1990s · 2000s · Politics · Personal life · Awards and honors · Filmography · Discography · Malpaso Productions

Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide (1959–1965). He rose to fame for playing the Man with No Name in Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy of spaghetti westerns (A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) during the late 1960s, and as Harry Callahan in the Dirty Harry films (Dirty Harry, Magnum Force, The Enforcer, Sudden Impact, and The Dead Pool) throughout the 1970s and 1980s. These roles, among others, have made him an enduring cultural icon of masculinity.^[1][2]

For his work in the films Unforgiven (1992) and Million Dollar Baby (2004), Eastwood won Academy Awards for Best Director and Producer of the Best Picture, as well as receiving nominations for Best Actor. These films in particular, as well as others including Play Misty for Me (1971), Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), Escape from Alcatraz (1979), Tightrope (1984), Pale Rider (1985), Heartbreak Ridge (1986), In the Line of Fire (1993), The Bridges of Madison County (1995), and Gran Torino (2008), have all received commercial success and critical acclaim. Eastwood's only comedies have been Every Which Way but Loose (1978) and its sequel Any Which Way You Can (1980), which are his two most commercially successful films after adjustment for inflation.

In addition to directing most of his own star vehicles, Eastwood has also directed films in which he did not appear, such as Mystic River (2003) and Letters from Iwo Jima (2006), for which he received Academy Award nominations, and Changeling (2008). He has received considerable critical praise in France, including for several films which were not well received in the United States, and he has been awarded two of France's highest honors: in 1994, the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres medal, and in 2007 the Légion d'honneur medal. In 2000, he was awarded the Italian Venice Film Festival Golden Lion for lifetime achievement.

Since 1967, Eastwood has run his own production company, Malpaso, which has produced all except four of his American films. He also served as the nonpartisan mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, from 1986 to 1988. Eastwood has seven children by five women, although he has only married twice.

Early life[link]

Eastwood was born in San Francisco to Clinton Eastwood, Sr. (1906–70), a steelworker and migrant worker, and Margaret Ruth (née Runner; 1909–2006), a factory worker.^[3] He was nicknamed "Samson" by the hospital nurses as he weighed 11 pounds 6 ounces (5.2 kg) at birth.^[4][5][6] After his father died in 1970, Eastwood's mother remarried to John Belden Wood (1913–2004) in 1972, and they remained married until his death 32 years later.^[7] Eastwood is of English, Irish, Scottish, and Dutch ancestry^[3][8] and was raised in a middle class home with his younger sister, Jean (born 1934).^[9][10] His family relocated often as his father worked at different jobs along the West Coast, including at a pulp mill.^[11][12] The family settled in Piedmont, California, where Eastwood attended Piedmont Junior High School and Piedmont Senior High School, taking part in sports such as basketball, football, gymnastics, and competitive swimming.^[13] He later transferred to Oakland Technical High School where the drama teachers encouraged him to enroll in school plays, but he was not interested. As his family moved to different areas he held a series of jobs including lifeguard, paper carrier, grocery clerk, forest firefighter, and golf caddy.^[14]

In 1950, Eastwood began a one-year stint as a lifeguard for the United States Army during the Korean War^[15] and was posted to Fort Ord in California.^[16] While on leave in 1951 Eastwood was a passenger onboard a Douglas AD bomber that ran out of fuel and crashed into the ocean near Point Reyes.^[17][18] After escaping from the sinking aircraft he and the pilot swam 3 miles (5 km) to safety.^[19]

Career[link]

Early work[link]

Publicity photo for Rawhide, 1961

According to the CBS press release for Rawhide, Universal Studios (then known as Universal-International) was shooting in Fort Ord when an assistant noticed Eastwood and arranged for him to meet the series' director.^[20] According to Eastwood's official biography, a man named Chuck Hill was instrumental in securing employment for Eastwood at Universal;^[20] Hill, who had contacts in Hollywood, managed to sneak Eastwood into one of Universal's studios, where he showed him to cameraman Irving Glassberg.^[20] Glassberg arranged for Eastwood to have an audition with Arthur Lubin who, although impressed with Eastwood's appearance and 6-foot-4-inch (1.93 m) frame,^[21] initially questioned his acting skills, remarking, "He was quite amateurish. He didn't know which way to turn or which way to go or do anything".^[22] Lubin suggested Eastwood attend drama classes, and arranged for his initial contract in April 1954 at $100 (US$865 in 2012 dollars^[23]) per week.^[22] After signing, Eastwood was criticized for his stiff manner, his squint, and for hissing his lines through his teeth, a feature that would become a lifelong trademark.^{[24][25][26][27]}

Eastwood's first acting role was an uncredited bit part as a laboratory assistant in the 1955 film Revenge of the Creature.^[28] He then had uncredited bit parts in several other films, such as Lady Godiva of Coventry and Never Say Goodbye (1956), as well as a small speaking role in Francis in the Navy.^[29][30][31] In 1959, he made a guest appearance on Maverick, opposite James Garner, as a cowardly villain intent on marrying a rich girl for money.^[32] Eastwood had a small part as an aviator in the French picture Lafayette Escadrille and took on a featured role as an ex-Confederate renegade in Ambush at Cimarron Pass, a film which Eastwood viewed as disastrous and the lowest point of his career.^[33][34][35]

In a long sought-after break, Eastwood was cast in the supporting role of Rowdy Yates for the CBS hour-long western series Rawhide in the summer of 1958,^[36][37] although he was not especially happy with his role. Now aged 28, Eastwood felt his character Rowdy was too young and cloddish for him to feel comfortable with the part.^[38] Rawhide premiered in January 1959^[39] and after its release took only three weeks to reach the top 20 in the TV ratings. Although the series never won an Emmy it was a major success for several years, reaching its peak at number six in the ratings between October 1960 and April 1961.^[40] The Rawhide years (1959–65) were some of the most grueling of Eastwood's career. He often filmed for six days a week at an average of twelve hours a day, yet some directors still criticized him for not working hard enough.^[41][40] By late 1963 Rawhide's popularity had declined. Lacking freshness in the scripts, it was canceled in the middle of the 1965–66 television season.^[42] Eastwood made his first attempt at directing when he filmed several trailers for the show, although he was unable to convince producers to let him direct an episode.^[43] In the show's first season Eastwood earned $750 (US$6,042 in 2012 dollars^[23]) an episode. At the time of Rawhide’s cancellation, he received $119,000 (US$877,609 in 2012 dollars^[23]) in compensation.^[44]

1960s[link]

Set of The Good, Bad and the Ugly in Almería in 2009

In late 1963 Eastwood's co-star on Rawhide, Eric Fleming, rejected an offer to star in an Italian-made western called A Fistful of Dollars, to be directed in a remote region of Spain by the then relatively unknown Sergio Leone.^[45] Other actors, including Charles Bronson, Steve Reeves, Richard Harrison, Henry Fonda, James Coburn, and Ty Hardin, were also considered for the role. Knowing that he could play a cowboy convincingly Harrison suggested Eastwood, who in turn saw the film as an opportunity to escape from Rawhide. He signed a contract for $15,000 (US$112,403 in 2012 dollars^[23]) in wages for eleven weeks' work, with a bonus of a Mercedes automobile upon completion.^[46][47] Eastwood later spoke of the transition from a television western to A Fistful of Dollars: "In Rawhide I did get awfully tired of playing the conventional white hat. The hero who kisses old ladies and dogs and was kind to everybody. I decided it was time to be an anti-hero."^[48] Eastwood was instrumental in creating the Man with No Name character's distinctive visual style and, although a non-smoker, Leone insisted Eastwood smoke cigars as an essential ingredient of the "mask" he was attempting to create for the loner character.^[49]

A Fistful of Dollars proved a landmark in the development of spaghetti westerns, with Leone depicting a more lawless and desolate world than in traditional westerns, and challenging stereotypical American notions of a western hero by replacing him with a morally ambiguous antihero. The film's success meant Eastwood became a major star in Italy^[50] and he was re-hired by Leone to star in For a Few Dollars More (1965), the second film of the trilogy. Through the efforts of screenwriter Luciano Vincenzoni, the rights to For a Few Dollars More and the final film of the trilogy (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) were sold to United Artists for approximately $900,000 (US$6.64 million in 2012 dollars^[23]).^[51]

In January 1966 Eastwood met producer Dino De Laurentiis in New York City and agreed to star in a non-western five-part anthology production named Le streghe ("The Witches") opposite De Laurentiis' wife, actress Silvana Mangano.^[53] Eastwood's nineteen-minute installment only took a few days to shoot but his performance did not go down well with critics, with one writing "no other performance of his is quite so 'un-Clintlike' ".^[54] Two months later Eastwood began work on the third Dollars film, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, in which he again played the mysterious Man with No Name. Lee Van Cleef returned to play a ruthless fortune seeker, while Eli Wallach portrayed the cunning Mexican bandit Tuco Ramirez. The storyline involves the search for a cache of Confederate gold buried in a cemetery. During the filming of one scene in which a bridge was to be dynamited, Eastwood urged Wallach to retreat to a hilltop saying, "I know about these things. Stay as far away from special effects and explosives as you can."^[55] Minutes later confusion among the crew over the word "Vaya!" resulted in a premature explosion that could have killed Wallach.^[55]

The Dollars trilogy was not shown in the United States until 1967 when A Fistful of Dollars opened in January, For a Few Dollars More in May, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in December.^[56] All the films were commercially successful, particularly The Good, the Bad and the Ugly which eventually earned $8 million (US$55.8 million in 2012 dollars^[23]) in rental earnings and turned Eastwood into a major film star.^[56] All three films received generally bad reviews, and marked the beginning of a battle for Eastwood to win the respect of American film critics.^[57] Judith Crist described A Fistful of Dollars as "cheapjack",^[58] while Newsweek considered For a Few Dollars More as "excruciatingly dopey".^[57] Renata Adler of The New York Times opined that The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (now widely considered one of the finest films in the history of cinema.^[59][60]) was "the most expensive, pious and repellent movie in the history of its peculiar genre".^[61] Time magazine drew attention to the film's wooden acting, especially on the part of Eastwood, although critics such as Vincent Canby and Bosley Crowther of The New York Times praised Eastwood's coolness in playing the tall, lone stranger.^[62] Leone's distinctive cinematography style was widely acclaimed, even by critics who disparaged the acting in the film.^[57]

Stardom brought more "tough guy" roles for Eastwood. He signed up to star in the American revisionist western Hang 'Em High (1968), in which he featured alongside Inger Stevens, Pat Hingle, Dennis Hopper, Ed Begley, Bruce Dern, and James MacArthur,^[63] playing a man who seeks revenge after being lynched by vigilantes and left for dead.^[64] A cross between Rawhide and Leone's westerns, the film earned Eastwood a fee of $400,000 (US$2.67 million in 2012 dollars^[23]) and 25 percent of its net box-office takings.^[63] Using money earned from the Dollars trilogy, accountant and Eastwood advisor Irving Leonard helped establish Eastwood's production company, Malpaso Productions, named after the Malpaso Creek on Eastwood's property in Monterey County, California. Leonard arranged for Hang 'Em High to be a joint production with United Artists^[65] and, when it opened in July 1968, the film became the biggest United Artists opening in history — its box office receipts exceeding all the James Bond films of the time.^[66][67] Hang 'Em High was widely praised by critics, including Archer Winsten of the New York Post who described it as, "a western of quality, courage, danger and excitement".^[10]

Before the release of Hang 'Em High Eastwood had already begun work on the film Coogan's Bluff, about an Arizona deputy sheriff tracking a wanted psychopathic criminal (Don Stroud) through the streets of New York City. He was reunited with Universal Studios for the project after receiving an offer of $1 million (US$6.97 million in 2012 dollars^[23])—more than double his previous salary.^[67] Jennings Lang arranged for Eastwood to meet Don Siegel, a Universal contract director who later became one of Eastwood's close friends, with the two forming a partnership that would last more than ten years and comprise five films.^[68] Filming began in November 1967, before the script had been finalized.^[69] The film was controversial for its portrayal of violence,^[70][71] with Eastwood's role creating the prototype for what would later become the macho cop of the Dirty Harry film series.^{[citation needed]} Coogan's Bluff also became the first collaboration with Argentine composer Lalo Schifrin, who would later compose the jazzy score to several Eastwood films in the 1970s and 1980s, including the Dirty Harry films.

Eastwood was paid $850,000 (US$5.68 million in 2012 dollars^[23]) in 1968 for the war epic Where Eagles Dare,^[72] about a World War II squad parachuting into a Gestapo stronghold in the alpine mountains. Richard Burton played the squad's commander, with Eastwood as his right-hand man. Eastwood was also cast as Two-Face in the Batman television show, but the series was canceled before filming began.^[73]

Eastwood then branched out to star in the only musical of his career, Paint Your Wagon (1969). Eastwood and fellow non-singer Lee Marvin play gold miners who share the same wife (portrayed by Jean Seberg). Bad weather and delays plagued the production, while the film’s budget eventually exceeded $20 million (US$127 million in 2012 dollars^[23]), which was extremely expensive for the time.^[74] The film was not a critical or commercial success, although it was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.^[75]